[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 51 (Monday, March 25, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1930-S1931]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                           The Green New Deal

  Mr. CARPER. Mr. President, I rise to speak this afternoon on the 
upcoming vote on the majority leader's Green New Deal resolution, a 
resolution that, ironically, he apparently does not support.
  First I want to say this about the Green New Deal: Even our 
Republican friends cannot deny that this resolution has sparked a 
national conversation and generated a great deal of enthusiasm among 
the American people, especially among younger Americans.
  It reminds me of the time when I was a young naval flight officer 
stationed at Moffett Field Naval Air Station just south of San 
Francisco, waiting to be deployed to Southeast Asia during the Vietnam 
war. I joined millions of Americans across our country that year and 
celebrated our Nation's very first Earth Day.
  As I listen to the rising chorus of voices calling for climate action 
today, I hear the sounds of that day in Golden Gate Park. I remember 
the urgency we felt then to address the environmental challenges facing 
our Nation and our world, and I feel an even greater sense of urgency 
today. That is why it is so disappointing to me that our Republican 
colleagues--not all of them but a number of them--are trying to make a 
mockery of the very real concerns and the passionate calls for action 
we are hearing from people all across this country and, indeed, all 
around the world.
  This is not a time for derision. This is not a time for division. On 
an issue as serious as this one, we ought to be serious about 
addressing it. However, it has become clear that some--not all but 
some--of our Republican friends would rather have some fun and talk, 
maybe, about hamburgers and cheeseburgers and that kind of thing. 
Worse, some have conflated meaningful action on climate change with 
socialism.
  With the death of our late colleague John McCain, I am the last 
Vietnam veteran serving in the U.S. Senate. I served 5 years in a hot 
war in Southeast Asia to oppose the expansion of communism. Shortly 
after we celebrated that first-ever Earth Day in 1970, I was sent on 
the first of three deployments in Southeast Asia before eventually 
serving another 18 years until the end of the Cold War as a Navy P-3 
aircraft mission commander in the Naval Reserve and retiring as a Navy 
captain after chasing Soviet submarines in all of the oceans of the 
world.
  I am not a socialist. Like most of our colleagues here, I am an 
American patriot and proud to be one. I care deeply about this planet, 
and I know we can have cleaner air and water while creating jobs. Those 
two things are not mutually exclusive. Our Republican colleagues know 
better than that, and they owe our country better than that.
  In recent weeks, our Republican colleagues have thrown around a $93 
trillion number. That wildly overestimated number primarily refers to 
provisions in the Green New Deal that are not directly related to 
climate change.
  At a time when our country is looking to Congress for leadership on 
climate action, hiding behind political games, deception, and scare 
tactics is irresponsible. It is cowardly when we ought to be brave.
  Right now a clear majority of Americans want us, in Congress, to 
address the growing climate crisis that is facing our country and our 
planet. We should be having a fact-based, policy-driven conversation 
about tackling this crisis, and we should be talking about the real 
costs that confront us, including the cost of inaction.
  I live in Delaware, the lowest lying State in our country. Our State 
is sinking. The oceans around us are rising. According to our Nation's 
leading scientists, climate change unchecked means more sea level rise, 
costing coastal communities up and down the east coast--like my State--
trillions of dollars in economic damages over the next 80 years.
  In the Northeast we are experiencing rain events in which we are 
measuring rain by the foot, not the inch. Not too far from where we 
stand today, Ellicott City, MD, has experienced not one but two 1,000-
year floods. They have withstood not one but two 1,000-year floods in 
less than 2 years.
  Today, our hearts go out to our neighbors along the Missouri River 
Basin as they are suffering through catastrophic flooding. As of 
Friday, the cost of damage to Nebraska alone had already surpassed $1.3 
billion, and the damage to Iowa alone was estimated at $1.6 billion. 
Some cities are currently without fresh water. In Missouri, entire 
communities have been evacuated. In Northwestern Missouri, roughly 
40,000 acres of farmland was still underwater this past Friday.
  Our Nation's scientists tell us that climate change unchecked means 
more frequent and more intense storms, meaning bomb cyclones. I didn't 
even know there was such a thing as bomb cyclones, but there are. 
Intense rainfalls and category 5 hurricanes are becoming the new 
normal.
  Last year, we witnessed the tragic devastation caused by wildfires 
fueled by drought and heat, like the California wildfires. Imagine what 
we could face in 2050 when, according to our Nation's scientists, 
wildfire seasons burn up to six times more forest area each year.
  The extreme weather events we see are already taking a toll on 
American lives, on American livelihoods, and our Nation's budget. 
According to NOAA, in 2017 alone, extreme weather cost Americans $300 
billion in economic damages--a new record. That same year, the Federal 
Government spent $120 billion in Federal disaster spending for just 
four extreme weather events--just four.
  Earlier this month, the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office 
released its biennial high-risk list and once again identified climate 
change as a significant fiscal risk to the Federal Government and, I 
might add, to taxpayers.
  According to GAO, since 2005, Federal funding for disaster assistance 
has reached $430 billion--nearly one-half trillion dollars--and those 
costs will continue to rise. GAO says: ``Disaster costs are projected 
to increase as extreme weather events become more frequent and intense 
due to climate change.''
  NOAA and NASA tell us these numbers will be a drop in the bucket 
compared to our new climate future if we do not act on climate change. 
If we do not change course, just about every major economic sector in 
the United States will be negatively affected by climate change by the 
turn of this century. Some sectors could see hundreds of billions of 
dollars of losses every year.
  Add it all up, and climate change could slash up to 10 percent of our 
gross domestic product, GDP, by 2100. I like to say, compared to what? 
Well, for context, that would be more than double the losses incurred 
during the great recession of the last decade. However, all of these 
costs are woefully underestimated. How can we put a pricetag on the 
toll of this destruction? What is the cost of our fourth-generation 
farm family who loses their land and their livestock? What is the cost 
of a bridge inundated by water, separating a community from a hospital 
or

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other emergency services? What is the cost of the family who loses a 
child to an asthma attack on a high particulate matter day?

  The circumstances I have laid out are dire because that is the crisis 
we face, and we cannot evade it into oblivion. This poster says it all: 
``No matter where we live, we can't ignore the reality of climate 
change or its effects.'' We have to accept and address this crisis.
  As Albert Einstein once said, in adversity lies opportunity. The 
opportunity before us is even greater. More than 3 million people have 
gone to work in the clean energy sector in the United States in recent 
years, and those jobs are in renewable energy generation, energy 
efficiency, smart grid and storage, cleaner fuels, and lower emission 
vehicles.
  Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent for 2 more minutes to complete 
my remarks.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. CARPER. Nearly 500,000 of these clean energy jobs are in the 
solar and wind industries, and one out of every six construction 
workers in this country now make their living in emergency and energy 
efficiency. One out of every five companies involved in making motor 
vehicle parts makes their money from products that make our cars, 
trucks, and vans cleaner.
  Our clean energy revolution did not happen by accident. We put smart 
policies in place, and we had leadership that believed climate change 
was a threat. During the Obama administration, starting with the 
Recovery Act, the Federal Government provided economic incentives and 
smart regulations to support market investments and clean energy. We 
must build on this progress and continue to support policies that 
reduce our Nation's carbon footprint, help create a more robust 
economy, and support those most vulnerable to climate change.
  Yet instead of pursuing any ideas to address climate change and 
protect Americans from its effect, the Trump administration has sadly 
decided to ignore climate change, decided to defund clean energy 
research and roll back any meaningful climate action, decided to walk 
away from provisions that would help protect Americans from rising 
floods and other extreme weather events.
  Our President's failed leadership on climate change threatens our 
health, our economy, U.S. competitiveness, and our future. Sadly, most 
of our--not all--but most of our Republican friends have been 
applauding the President with every action.
  In conclusion, let me just say to the American people, don't be 
fooled or distracted by the political games. We cannot allow cynicism 
to win. We can reduce our Nation's carbon footprint; we can strengthen 
our economy; and we can support those most vulnerable among us--indeed, 
we must. Climate change is real. Human activity is the dominant cause. 
Congress needs to act. Stop the political theater and start to address 
the climate change before us today while we still have time, and we do.
  Thank you.
  I yield the floor.

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